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Twenty-five years ago this month, Bob Barnett, then the president of Chicago-based Ameritech Mobile Communications LLC, made the first commercial wireless call from inside a Chrysler convertible outside Soldier Field in Chicago to a grandson of Alexander Graham Bell. Since then, the wireless industry has transformed into a multibillion-dollar industry, and has changed the way companies do business.

“It’s dramatically impacted the way companies do their business in an extremely positive way,” said John Walls, vice president of public affairs for CTIA – The Wireless Association, which was founded just one year after the introduction of the mobile phone in 1984. “I don’t think there is any doubt that wireless services have become more advanced and are becoming a significant factor in every successful CEO’s thinking.”

Walls said that because of cellphones, businesses have cut back on employees’ wasted time and boosted their efficiency.

“It’s an extraordinary positive change because it is doing away with wasted time and inefficient and inaccurate paperwork,” he said. “It is allowing numerous companies to more efficiently perform their services, and ultimately it means better customer service which enriches that relationship and provides value throughout the chain.”

Tim Oliver-Peters, a data technician for Verizon Wireless in Des Moines, echoed Walls when he said: “People can do more on the go. They have access to a greater number of resources, a greater amount of information, and it has really, truly allowed – whether you’re talking about construction workers, or you’re talking about mobile salespeople – all of us to be productive.”

Walls said that one of the most significant transformation in cellphones has been the increase in bandwidth, which not only allows users to send and receive e-mails, but also allows them to send PowerPoint presentations and large data files such as spreadsheets.

“Because of increased bandwidth, it’s more than just voice communications,” Walls said. “You’re able to transmit large amounts of data, which has tremendous implications for health care, transportation, the list goes on and on.”

However, Oliver-Peters said the first major shift during the past 25 years came before increased bandwidth, when cellular operations went from analog to digital transmission.

“When we moved from analog technology, where the cell tower was limited in its capacity and it was a great expense to make a call transmission, and we moved to digital, we enhanced that capacity,” he said. “A lot more calls can be maintained at the same time, at the same cell site.”

During the past 25 years, hundreds of thousands of cell towers have been erected, going from just 599 sites to support the first wireless mobile phones in 1985, to 95,733 in 2000, to 220,472 in June 2008, according to data gathered by CTIA.

Oliver-Peters said that as the number of cell towers increased, so did the capabilities of the wireless providers, and the focal point of a cellphone went from voice-to-voice communications to other features such as data transmission, text messaging and Web browsing.

“We went from something the size of a briefcase to a phone the size of a Halloween candy bar,” Oliver-Peters said. “It’s amazing. Text messaging and a very, very basic mobile Web browser on your telephone were the newest and the big techie rage, and just to see how it has progressed to what we have today is really just amazing.”

Now, consumers are able to carry their cellphones on their belts, have the Internet literally at their fingertips, and check e-mail from anywhere.

This instantaneous connection to the World Wide Web has evolved from humble roots that date back to October 1985, when the first mobile phone was introduced; it was 13 inches long, weighed nearly two pounds and came with a $3,995 price tag.

“These phones weren’t necessarily out in the general public,” Oliver-Peters said. “It really was something that was focused more on a particular customer segment, so it was for somebody that was looking to spend a high-dollar amount.”

Today, a high-end cellphone will cost a consumer at most, a couple hundred dollars, and will have features parallel to a video player, an MP3 player, a computer, and, oh yeah, a phone. Also, because there is more market competition, users have seen their average monthly bill decrease by more than 50 percent, as carriers compete for their service.

According to data gathered by CTIA, the average monthly bill was $95 in 1988, which was the first year the group started tracking monthly cellphone costs. Ten years later in 1998, the average monthly bill decreased to its lowest level ever, $39.88, and as of June 2008, the average consumer paid $48.54 per month.

“I think more has happened in the last eight years than the first eight years of the 25-year segment,” Oliver-Peters said. “So I’m sure the next 25 years are going to be phenomenal.”